It finally happened - after two years of successfully avoiding it, I got Covid. It was a rough two weeks, but I'm done with it now, and slowly regaining my strength and desire to eat.

Two weeks is a long time when you're planning to launch a game. I had a lot of time to think (and absolutely no energy to work), so I've decided to delay the release. Originally, I was aiming for August. Now I'm shooting for February 2023.

There are several reasons for that.

1) I want to launch with the level editor. Previously, I said that I'll add it post-launch, but I think it'll be good for the game if it's there at launch.

2) I also realized that I want to add more music, and not just slap two tracks together and be done with it. Right now, I have seven additional tracks planned, with three almost done.

3) I can't make it until September. And October through January aren't good months. October and November is when the big games get released, December is vacation time, and I won't release it in January right after vacationing, so February it is. (Yes, same month as the release of Catty & Batty.)

4) Health: I just don't find stress and anxiety that appealing anymore. 😁

I thought long and hard about this because a delay means that my next game will happen later. But I have to be okay with that. There's still time.

So! With that out of the way, here's what happened before I got down with the sickness.

I added a new gameplay element, namely asteroids:

(That was a bug, it's obviously too big :D)

Asteroids can break and release crystals depending on their color. They're "neutral", which means both enemies and seekers can get destroyed by them. I think this will add some additional level mechanics, as they can act as temporary shields.

The biggest change since the last entry was a refactor of the menu control system. I kept running into the issue that the pause/options menu wasn't available in certain scenes (start screen, endless mode screen, level selection, etc.), so I sat down and changed that. I now have a "universal" player controller that is available in every scene and it can handle menus and pause/options. I can even add a "Menu" button to the interface now, which is good for accessibility. This refactor was not part of why I enjoy making games, I will tell you that much. :D

It also still has a minor bug, so this will not be pushed live to the demo yet.

In fact, I'm not sure when the demo will be updated the next time. I think I will take a bit more time to develop the game "in secret" again, before releasing another bigger update. We'll see.

Nevertheless, here's the full changelog:

• When creators are set to shoot in random directions, they will now choose directions in a clockwise manner, so it is more predictable (see gif above).
• Fixed bug where thinking animation could appear above the wrong seeker.
• Clicking on an already selected seeker will now allow to turn the square behind it.
• Added "Menu" button to UI, this required a gigantic refactor of input management and how menus are handled and will help a lot in the future (I can now add menus/options/pause to every scene, which is really important).
• Added asteroids, they kill seekers and projectiles, and can drop crystals.
• You can now go back to previous sentence in dialogues, and SPACE also displays the next sentence now.
• Added several dialogue improvements suggested by Varik Valefor.
• Started making a new track with samples by VEVEN, this track will be played when you return to Mars in story mode.
• SaimizZ rightfully pointed out that the current font looks a bit strange. I tested new fonts, I think I'll choose Saira next, here's a mockup.

And that's it! Hope nobody's too disappointed about the delay, again I think it'll be good for the game (and good for me personally). The next devlog entry will probably appear in August, as I slowly get back into a rhythm.

To be continued... 💎